Well, let us turn to God's Word.
And I want to direct you more particularly
to the last portion that we read, Psalm 136. And really, the text I want to consider is
to be found in every one of these 26 verses. those words, for his mercy endureth
forever. And that, as you will have observed,
as we read those other portions, that again, that refrain is to
be found in all of those portions, for his mercy endureth forever. And so the theme I want to endeavor
to address is that of God's enduring mercy. And it is that remarkable
word that we've taken account of recently. I think I mentioned
it when we were considering God's covenant, covenant of grace,
everlasting covenant. It's this word hesed. And oftentimes
in the Old Testament, it's translated loving kindness. The idea of
God's covenant faithfulness, God's sovereign grace. for God's sure mercies. Remember those words that we
were looking at recently in Isaiah 55 three, I will make an everlasting
covenant with you even the sure mercies of David. David in his own experience was
of course brought to plead the mercy of God in relation to his
awful sin He was a great sinner, but a sinner saved by the sovereign
grace of God. And we have the records of his
penitence and the depth of it in Psalm 51, which we were looking
at just last Lord's Day evening, the opening words of the Psalm.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions,
how he has to plead that great mercy of God. And in some ways
we can say that these mercies, these sure mercies, these tender
mercies, are very much part of the glory that belongs unto God,
and we see that at the dedication of the Temple of the Lord. We
turn back to the historic account that we have there in the second
book of Chronicles, I'm thinking of And Solomon was the man raised
up, of course, although David desired to be the one who would
build that temple. Yet he was a man of blood, a
great warrior king. Solomon, of course, if any name
means peace. And he was the one, David's son,
who would have that great privilege of erecting the temple. And the record is found, it's
found For example, in 2 Chronicles, and there in chapter six, we
have his prayer, it's a repetition of what's also recorded previously
in 1 Kings chapter eight. But I'm thinking of the language
that we have, the setting of the dedication of the temple
there at the end of chapter five in 2 Chronicles. Verse 13, it
came even to pass As the trumpeters and singers were as one to make
one sound, to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, when they
lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments
of music and praised the Lord, saying, for He is good, for His
mercy endureth forever, that then the house was filled with
a cloud, even the house of the Lord. So the priests could not
stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the
Lord had filled the house of God. It was, as we see here,
quite clearly as they may mention of his mercy. What do they say? He is good. His mercy endureth
forever. Then the house was filled with
a cloud, even the house of the Lord. The glory of the Lord then
appears as his children sing of his mercies. And so the theme
I want to take up this morning is this of God's enduring mercies. We have of course been remembering
something of those mercies some 75 years ago when in the goodness
of God we enjoyed a victory over all the forces of Nazi Germany
and the great wickedness that was being perpetrated at that
time. And was not that a mercy, and
have we not since then learned many mercies? And when we think
of our own lives, why God's mercy is new every morning, says Jeremiah,
great is his faithfulness, his compassion, they fail not. consider how in this 136th Psalm
we certainly have a recognition of those mercies and thanksgiving
and praises to God in the light of those mercies. First of all,
what a mercy it is that we should have any knowledge of this God. Think of the prayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ there in In John 17, as he comes now to the end
of his ministry, as he prays and all that is before him, that
great sacrifice, that great sin-atoning sacrifice, what does he say?
It is life eternal. It is life eternal to know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And how does the psalm open?
It opens with the only true God, O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks
unto the God of God, for his mercy endureth forever. O give
thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his mercy endureth forever. And here in the opening verse,
the psalmist speaks of that God who is good. We think again of
the language We find in another psalm, Psalm 119, verse 68, thou
art good, and doest good. All goodness is all that our
God is about. And this good God is the only
living and the only true God. Again, at the end of the psalm,
O give thanks unto the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth
forever. There is but one living and true
God. And what a mercy it is if we're
brought to acknowledge that truth, if we're theists. It is the fool
who has said in his heart, there is no God. It's foolishness to
deny God the father of atheism. This last week, as we were coming
up to D-Day, I did send out that letter, that third letter during
this period. of the lockdown. And I referred
to a man like Field Marshal Allenbrook and quoted from his diaries.
Now, he doesn't claim to be a religious man. I don't say he was a true
Christian believer. He didn't have saving faith.
And yet, he was a thief. He believed that God is. And
I think of the experience of one of the great Scottish theologians
back in the 19th century, John Duncan. Rabbi Duncan, as he was
affectionately known by many of his students, lectured at
the New College in Edinburgh, the beginnings of the Free Church
of Scotland. He went out to Budapest and was
engaged in missionary work amongst the Jews. He was a great Hebraist.
And he had a remarkable life. He was an atheist. and he was
an Aberdonian and he speaks of how as a young man he was delivered
from his atheism as he was walking up the bridge of De and it came
to him that there is a God and he danced, he danced with delight
that he'd been brought out of black atheism. It wasn't his
conversion but at least now he believed that God is and then
subsequently how God dealt with him so graciously revealing himself
to him. It is a mercy but with those
who believe that there is a God in this world who is fulfilling
his great purpose. It's the fool who denies the
very existence of God, and yet this great God is altogether
above and beyond our understanding. Think of the language that we
have in Job 11, the words of Zophar. Canst thou by searching
find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst
thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst
thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth, and broader than the sea. But our mercy is this,
that God is one who does reveal himself. And oh, the psalmist
speaks to us of that great revelation that God has given in all his
works. In Psalm 19, the heavens declare
the glory of God. And the firmament showeth his
handiwork day unto day unto speech, and night unto night showeth
knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice
is not heard. Their line is gone out through
all the earth and their words to the end of the world. And
so men are really without any excuse. And yet this God who
reveals himself is so great we cannot really begin to comprehend
the wonder that belongs to him. find him out by our own searchings,
he must come. And he must reveal himself to
us. And this is the God that is being
celebrated here. Oh, the mystery of God. The great
doctrine of God. What is the doctrine of God?
It's the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one. Hero Israel, the
Lord's, our God, is one Lord. And yet God's is three, the mystery
of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. The three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. Oh, what a favor, what a blessing,
what a mercy, then, if we're brought to acknowledge this true
God. And it has rightly been observed that any who deny the
Trinity know not the true God as He has made Himself known.
He has made Himself known in creation. There is that general
revelation that is to be witnessed on every hand in all His work.
That's what the psalmist is saying there in the 19th Psalm that
God has granted to us this special revelation that we're considering
even this morning. We have before us the Holy Scriptures,
the Word of the Living God. All the enduring mercies end
of this God, all give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endureth forever. But see how here in the Psalm,
the Psalmist goes on to speak particularly of God in creation. We read verses four through tonight,
and I'll omit the refrain, His mercy endureth forever. What
does it say in these verses? Verse four. To him who alone
doeth great wonders, to him that by wisdom made the heavens, to
him that stretched out the earth above the waters, to him that
made great lights, the sun to rule by day, the moon and stars
to rule by night. What is it that is being spoken
of in particular? It is the great truth of God's
creating power, that he is the one who is the maker of all things. It is God who has made us. God,
we are sounds. We are the work of his hand. And who is it that is the Creator?
It's this triune God. Again, in another psalm, Psalm
33 verse 6, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and
all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. There we have the
word of the Lord, there we have the breath of his mouth. And
there is clearly there reference to God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. How did God create? By the Word
of the Lord were the heavens made. In the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not
anything made that was made. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Eternal Logos. The Word of God, the Only Begotten
Son of the Father, He is there in creation. But not only does
David in Psalm 33 speak of the word of the Lord in creation.
He also says, and the host of them by the breath, or the spirit,
of his mouth, because the word that we have there as breath
is the same word that on so many occasions is rendered as spirit. The word is one of the same.
The context determines in the Old Testament whether the reference
is to God's breath or God's spirit, the Holy Ghost, who proceed us.
from the Father and the Son. How we are reminded then that
the God who created all things is the Trinity. How he has that
consultation with himself when he comes to the creation of man. Normally God creates by faith,
he simply speaks. He spoke, and it was done. He
commanded, and it stood fast. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. So we read of God's work in those
days of creation, those six days. But when we come to the sixth
day, what does God do? He doesn't just speak man into
existence, but he speaks with himself. Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness. to recognize the great mercy
of God even in our creation. And now, again here in the Psalms,
the Psalms reminds us in a sense of our insignificance in that
great work of creation and yet at the same time how the man
is that being that stands at the very apex of all that great
work that God has done. Turn back to Psalm 8. And verse
four, what is man? That thou art mindful of him,
and the Son of Man that thou visitest here. For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep, and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea. And whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the sea, O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth. O our God, as honoured
man, this man so feeble, so frail, this man who so quickly sinned
against God, how we only have to turn over a few pages and
we're at Genesis 3 and the history of the four of our first parents,
Adam and Eve, in their transgression. And yet then the promise of that
other man, the seed of the woman, even the Lord Jesus Christ, how
that God himself in the person of the only begotten Son, the
second person in the Godhead, having the fullness of the time,
God sends his Son made of a woman, the seed of the woman, made under
the law. We're thinking of God's great
work here in verses four to nine of creation. And in creation
we see him as that God who is merciful, that he should ever
have granted that we should ever be, or but for God we would not
be. He is the one who has made us,
not we ourselves. We are the work of his hands. But here in the psalm, see, And
there's also reference to God's providence. We go to the end
of the psalm in verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh,
for his mercy endureth forever. God is faithful to his creation. Although in The early chapters
of Genesis, we see how sin multiplied in the earth. Every imagination
of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually. And
how God visited a terrible judgment upon the whole earth in the universe
of God, and destroyed the earth, but saved Noah and his wife and
his sons and their wives. And God has sent his judgment
upon the earth in our days. We're aware of it. We really
are aware of that. This pandemic, it doesn't come
by mere chance. It's all in the sovereignty of
God. God has a judgment. It's come
upon the earth, but that judgment, as I've said before, begins at
the house of God. We have to look to ourselves.
We're not to imagine for a moment that we're better than others.
Alas, we, you professors, knowing we live our lives at poor dying
rate. We're not what we should be.
But there even When God visits terrible judgment upon the earth
in the days of Noah, what do we believe? After God has spared
that family and the earth is to be re-peopled, we have the
promise at the end of Genesis 8, while the earth remains, sea
time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night,
shall not cease. All His mercy endureth forever. And there we see we have the
seasons of the earth. We've had this beautiful weather
as we've come into the season of spring. Isn't this God mingling
mercy with his judgments? Go and think of the language
that we have elsewhere in this remarkable part of Oldish scripture. What a portion of scripture we
have here in the book of Psalms. We turn to Psalm 65. And what
do we read? Verse nine, thou visitest the
earth and watereth it. Thou greatly enrichest it with
the river of God, which is full of water. Thou preparest them
corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges
thereof abundantly. Thou settlest the furrows thereof.
Thou makest it soft with showers. Thou blessest the springing thereof.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness. And thy paths drop
fatness. They drop upon the pastures of
the wilderness. And the little hills rejoice
on every side. The pastures are clothed with
flocks. The valleys also are covered
over with corn. They shout for joy, they also
sing. Oh, what a God is this. He has
created all things. And in his sovereign providence,
he preserves all things. Psalm 36, six, O Lord, thou preserve
us, man and beast. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
reminds us of that in the course of his own ministry. We've referred
recently to those words that we have in the Sermon on the
Mount. We've been considering something
of the pattern prayer, the Lord's Prayer as we call it there in
that sixth chapter. And even last Thursday we were
thinking of that petition, give us this day our daily bread. Oh Lord, the Lord makes daily
provision for us. And remember what the Lord goes
on to say there at the end of that chapter. Verse 25, therefore I say unto
you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what
ye shall drink, or yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is
not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold,
the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap
nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thorn,
can add one cubit unto his statue? Why take ye thorn for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field. O, they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of thee,
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which
today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you? O ye of little faith! Therefore,
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we
drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? O God, grant that
we might have that faith to recognize, the God of Providence. At this
time, with the quietness, I suppose, of the lockdown, we're able to
hear the birdsong, and maybe some of us have been favoured
to have birds nesting in parts of our garden, and isn't it remarkable
to see God's overruling hand, how they build their nests, how
they care for their young, and they know where to go. They fly
away and they return with food. It's a remarkable thing to behold. Behold, says Scripture, the fowls
of the air, for they sow not, neither they reap, nor gather
into ponds, yet your heavenly Father feeds them there. Are
ye not much better than they? O God, grant that we might have
that faith to believe, and to see that every good gift and
every perfect gift cometh from the God, and cometh from the
Father of light, in whom there is no variableness nor any shadow,
of turning, how faithful our God is. David could say it. I have been young and now am
old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor is he
begging rent. God's providence is a manifestation
of his mercy, who giveth food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth
forever. Remember, And in particular,
the 107th Psalm does set before us that great truth of God's
sovereign providence. Do you remember the closing verse
of that Psalm? Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness
of the Lord. It's the same words, the lovingkindness,
the mercy, the covenant faithful, of the Lord. And how our spiritual
forebears, how the Puritans would recognize God's providences. They were so mindful of the providence
of God. You can think of the life of
a man like Oliver Cromwell. He had such a sense of God's
providence in every detail of his life. We think of that great
work by the Puritan John Fable when he wrote on the mystery
of God's providence. Oh God, grant us wisdom to observe
these things, that we might understand the loving kindness, the tender
mercies, the sure mercies of our God. But then, finally here
in the Psalm, I want us to consider this God, the God of mercies,
is the God of salvation. Again, reading from verse 10,
I'm going to omit the refrain, to him that smote Egypt in their
firstborn, and brought out Israel from among them, with a strong
hand and with a stretched out arm, to him which divided the
Red Sea into parts, and made Israel to pass through the midst
of it, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea,
to him which led his people through the wilderness, to him which
smote great kings, and threw famous kings, Sion, king of the
Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, and gave their land for
an heritage, even an heritage unto Israel his servant, who
remembered us in our lowest days, and hath redeemed us from our
enemies. And as we think of God's salvation,
two things. First of all, here we clearly
have the salvation of Israel. What we have in verses 10 to
22 is a continual narrative of the history of that people. And they're right to break that
narrative with this constant refrain, for His mercy endures
forever. At every step, every step of
God's dealings with them, they knew and they experienced the
mercies of God. How was it that He brought them
out of Egypt in verses 11 and 12? It was by His mercy. How was it that He made a way
for them through the Red Sea in verses 13, 14 and 15? It was
by His mercy. How was it that He led them through
the wilderness and provided for them and cause them to overcome
all their enemies. It was by mercy. How was it that
they came to inherit that promised land in verses 21 and 22? Again,
it was the mercy of God. And so throughout, throughout
all their history, God was dealing with them in the way of mercy.
There were judgments. But in wrath, God remembers his
mercy. That's the comfort of his people.
But here, ultimately, I want us to think of the spiritual
significance of this salvation. It's the salvation of sinners.
Ethnic Israel, as I'm sure we're all so well aware, they were
a typical people. Ethnic Israel, the nation that
we have spoken of in Old Testament scriptures, the type of God's
true Israel, the spiritual Israel. Paul tells us, Romans 9, 6, they
are not all Israel, that are of Israel. There was ever that
true remnant, that spiritual people in the midst of the nation. God had left to himself at all
times a very little remnant. Again, the language of The Apostle
at the end of Romans chapter 2 he tells us plainly he is not
a Jew which is one outwardly neither is circumcision that
which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter whose praise is of God. All we are to think
here of that of that spiritual Israel Remember again what Paul
says concerning God's dealings with them in the days of Moses.
There in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, as he speaks of them being
brought through the Red Sea and so forth. Now all these things
happened unto them for examples, for types, as it says in the
margin. All these things happened unto
them for types. They are written for our admonition upon whom
the ends of the world are or the ends of the world. What is
the ends of the world? It's this time, this gospel time.
Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. And so what do we read? Verses
23 and 24, who remembered us in our low estate for his mercy
endureth forever. And has redeemed us from our
enemies for his mercy endureth forever. This is the God that
we are blessed and favoured to have dealings with because he
deigns to deal with us. Or think of the experience of
a man like Jeremiah. He knew what it was to be cast
into the deep dungeon. And what does he say? Then in
the lamentations I called upon my name, O Lord, out of the low
dungeon. or he remembers us in our lowest
times. When God begins with us and we
have that sense of what we are, that sense of our sinnership,
maybe we feel sometimes we're surely below the notice of God.
We feel our complete impotence, what can we do? We're unable
to do anything for ourselves, we cannot save ourselves. Or
we have to learn, do we not? We have to learn From Holy Scripture,
we have to learn from the example of that poor publican that Christ
speaks of in Luke 18, standing afar off, he would not lift up
so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God brings us to that. All we
can plead is mercy. That's what the publican does.
He asks God to be merciful. to be propitious, to pardon his
sin, to blot out his sin, God be merciful to me, the sinner,
because really the definite article appears there. Or it's as if
we're the only sinner, that God is a merciful God. And that's
what the sinner must plead, for his mercy endureth forever. And again, we're in the Old Testament,
here in the Psalms and we think of all the types that we have
in the Old Testament. And I think of the tabernacle
and the furnishings of the tabernacle and the mercy seat. And the mercy
seat spoken of there in Exodus 25 was that covering for the
Ark of the Covenants. And what was put in the Ark,
it was the tables of the law, the Ten Commandments. were placed
in the ark. And here is the mercy seat. It
covers those laws of God. And then God says he will appear
upon the mercy seat. He will come and appear between
the cherubims. Or it's the Lord below. It's
the Lord God appearing above. But what is between? There's
the mercy seat. There's the mercy seat. That's
law. or the administration of the law, it condemns the sinner.
Whatever things the law it saith, it saith to them who are under
the law that every man may be starved and all the world become
guilty before God. For by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. But there's the mercy seat. And
of course, on that great day of atonement in Leviticus 16,
And only then, that one day in the year, the high priest would
go into the Holy of Holies with the blood of sacrifice and sprinkle
the blood upon the Mercy Saint and before the Mercy Saint. That
reconciling blood, that sin-atoning blood. And it's all fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is that sense in which
Christ himself is the Mercy Saint. You remember, In Hebrews 9, at
the beginning of that chapter, the Apostle Paul speaks of the
furnishings in the tabernacle. And he speaks of the cherubims
of glory shadowing the mercy seat. And the word that we have,
mercy seat, there in that verse, Hebrews 9, 5, is to be found
just once more in the New Testament. We have it a particular word
in Romans 3.25 concerning the Lord Jesus Christ whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. The word propitiation, mercy
seat, it's the same word. The mercy seat was the place
of propitiation. The place where God's wrath was
satisfied by sacrifice. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our mercy, sir. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, that we see the mercy of God. His mercy endureth forever. This good God, this gracious
God, how has He revealed Himself? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks unto the God of gods, for His mercy endureth
forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of
Lords for his mercy, enduring forever. Who is this one? Oh, is it not the Lord Jesus
Christ who, as we see in Revelation 19, hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written? And what is that name? King of
kings and Lord of lords. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ, no
man hath seen God, At any time, the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed or declared Him
to us. It is in Christ that we see God,
the image of the invisible God. And we see God in Christ in human
flesh. How He is touched with the feeling
of all our infirmities. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. who was in
all points tempted like us, we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace, the throne of grace, the
mercy seat, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. Oh, that God then would open
our eyes to the blessed truth of that mercy. It's not for a
moment, it's not For a day it's forever, and ever, and ever,
and ever, for His mercy endureth forever. Will the Lord be pleased
to bless these truths to us?